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CHA PTER 7
FREEDOM OF
CONSCIENCE
A. INTRODUCTION
At an earlier time, when the moral beliefs of most individuals were rooted
in a religious system, the term “freedom of conscience” was used inter-
changeably with “freedom of religion” to refer to the individual’s freedom
to hold beliefs that were spiritual or moral in character. However, with
the growth of nonreligious worldviews or moral systems, the terms have
taken on distinct meanings. Freedom of conscience is now viewed as
an alternative to, or extension of, religious freedom. While freedom of
religion protects fundamental religious beliefs and practices, freedom of
conscience extends protection to fundamental beliefs and practices that
are not part of a religious system. Together, then, freedom of conscience
and freedom of religion protect the individual’s most fundamental moral
beliefs or commitments, both religious and non-religious.
The problem of distinguishing religious beliefs/practices from non-
religious beliefs/practices, which has bedevilled the US courts, was
something that Canadian courts and commentators thought section 2(a)
of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had avoided by creating a
single “integrated” right to freedom of conscience and religion.1 If free-
dom of conscience and religion protects all deeply held commitments
1 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part 1 of the Constitution Act, 1982, being
Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11 [Charter]. See R v Big M Drug
Mart, [1985] 1 SCR 295.
